the filmmaker Alejandro G. Inarritu was at a creative crossroads several years ago when he decided to make "Birdman," a story of a man on a similar journey. On Sunday, Inarritu reached the Hollywood promised land when his film proved the big winner at the Academy Awards. "Birdman," a visually inventive look at a washed-up movie actor seeking redemption on the Broadway stage, took best picture, director, cinematography and original screenplay prizes at the Dolby Theatre ceremony. The honors capped Inarritu's odyssey from arthouse outsider to film-world royalty, and also struck a national blow of sorts. Like last year's director winner Alfonso Cuaron and repeat cinematography victor Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki, Inarritu was born south of the border. "I want to dedicate this award for my fellow Mexicans, the ones who live in Mexico," Inarritu said after his film won best picture. "I pray that we can find and build a government that we deserve." And it works. The Bluetooth doctor Its ed "Scanadu Scout-- after Xanadu, an ancient city of great splendor and scientific progress, made famous by English poet S. T.

Of Mexican immigrants in the U.S., he added, "I pray that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect as the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation." Presided over by Neil Patrick Harris and possessing a frequent political charge, the 87th Oscars saw Academy voters spread the love. Each of the seven movies that lost best picture received at least one award, led by Wes Anderson's offbeat "The Grand Budapest Hotel's" four wins, all in technical categories. Damien Chazelle's music-school drama "Whiplash" scored three statuettes, including supporting actor for J.K. Simmons as a hard-driving teacher and the prestigious editing prize, an upset over "Boyhood." Indeed, the Richard Linklater coming-of-age drama that was a front-runner for much of the season came away with only one prize, for Patricia Arquette's supporting actress role as a quietly strong mother. Shot over 12 years, the movie was a smash emerging from last year's Sundance Film Festival and won many critics prizes at the end of 2014, but recently lost momentum.

The night moved along with few surprises until about halfway through, when "Big Hero 6" staged an upset over favorite "How To Train Your Dragon 2" in the animated feature category, proving the durability of movies from Disney-Pixar. The win was the studio's seventh in the last eight years. Acting categories largely followed pundits' forecasts. Actress honors went to Julianne Moore for her role as an Alzheimer's-afflicted patient in "Still Alice," a widely predicted result, as were Simmons and Arquette. The lead actor prize for Eddie Redmayne as physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything" was also an expected turn. Like other recent best picture winners such as "The Artist," "Birdman" focuses on show business personalities, while its stylized world existed far from the modern political arena. While the more topical films were largely shut out of the podium ï¿½ Clint Eastwood's Iraq war smash "American Sniper" and Ava DuVernay's Civil Rights tale "Selma" landed only one award apiece ï¿½ social issues dominated the evening. The musicians Common and John Legend, receiving the "Selma" prize for the original song "Glory," made the most of their moment. At a House Democratic retreat in Philadelphia late last month, Biden urged Democrats to ?double down? on the president and embrace him. On Thursday in Iowa, which holds the first caucus of the presidential nominating process, Biden said the stakes are high heading into 2016, as the policies laid out by Republican and Democratic presidential candidates will determine whether the middle class will reclaim its place in America or not. Republican ?trickle-down? policies will help those who are already comfortable and keep the middle class from growing, Biden said.

"This bridge was once a landmark of a divided nation, but now it's a symbol for change," Common said of the famed Edmund Pettus crossing in Selma, Ala., which is the film's emotional center. "The sprit of this bridge connects the kid from the South Side of Chicago dreaming of a better life to those in France standing up for their freedom of expression to the people in Hong Kong protesting for democracy." Meanwhile, speaking after her Edward Snowden film "Citizenfour" won the prize for documentary, director Laura Poitras noted that Snowden and the movie sought to "expose a threat [not only] to our privacy but to our democracy itself," as she was flanked by investigative reporter and film subject Glenn Greenwald, as well as Snowden's girlfriend, Lindsay Mills. And Arquette, who had shown few political stripes in her numerous acceptance speeches this season, noted the importance of "ecological sanitation the developing world" before finishing with a flourish: "To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation we have fought for everybody else's equal rights," she said. "It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America." The speech prompted a rousing response from the audience, including Meryl Streep, who was seen nearly jumping from her seat pointing in spirited agreement. ? Chahrour described her fellow student as having a ?bubbly personality? and someone who frequently went out in Raleigh to feed the less. Chahrour said the Muslim-American community is on edge at the school. ?It could have been any one of us.